Cold War ally, modern-day nuisance
By Brian McCartan
BANGKOK - Vang Pao, the most potent symbol and important player in the US
Central Intelligence Agency's "secret war" in Laos, died of natural causes in
California on January 6 at the age of 81. While the general never formally
served in the US military, his advocates in the ethnic Hmong community believe
he should be buried at Arlington National Cemetery alongside other American war
heroes.
His controversial past, including alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking
and an indictment for his alleged role in plotting to topple the Lao government
from US soil, will likely weigh against US President Barack Obama granting him
a special waiver for burial at Arlington. As Washington's post-Cold War
strategic
objectives shift in the region, Vang Pao's is a historical chapter the US and
its regional allies will be keen to see closed.
Communist influence in Southeast Asia was a growing concern for the US in the
late 1950s and Washington sought a commander who was capable of engaging the
communists in Laos without the need to commit American soldiers. In December
1959, Bill Lair, a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) adviser based in
Thailand, was introduced to Vang Pao, then a Royal Lao Army battalion
commander. Blair later arranged to provide weapons and training for the Vang
Pao-commanded Hmong contingent.
As the fighting in Laos grew the role of Vang Pao's fighters expanded to not
only keeping the forces of the Pathet Lao and North Vietnam at bay, but also
observing and interdicting the Ho Chi Ming Trail, rescuing downed American
airmen and protecting navigation sites for the US's strategic bombing of North
Vietnam.
Much of the fighting took place in Laos' remote northeast, especially around
the strategic Plain of Jars region. US bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and in
support of the Hmong over time made Laos the most heavily bombed country in the
world. The legacy of unexploded ordnance left behind by US bombing is still
felt today through civilian injuries and deaths, including among agrarians
tilling contaminated fields.
Vang Pao's forces would eventually grow to almost 40,000 fighters and provided
a backbone of resistance against the communist forces. His losses, however,
were enormous. Initially a guerrilla force, his soldiers were later used as a
conventional force, a role for which they were unsuited. They suffered
accordingly and by the late 1960s the Hmong were forced to recruit boys as
young as 13 to replenish their numbers.
Blair also arranged for the Hmong to be trained by members of Thailand's Police
Aerial Reinforcement Unit (PARU). His relations with the Thai military were
reinforced through continued PARU training and the recruitment of thousands of
Thai "mercenaries" to support the war effort. Thai support for the US and Hmong
efforts was seen in Bangkok as necessary to prevent a communist takeover of
Laos, which would have threatened Thailand's royal government and emboldened
its own communist insurgency.
Vang Pao was not only a military commander, but also oversaw aid and
development programs to his fighters and their families. Much of this was
provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Through these programs, agricultural training was provided and schools and
clinics set up.
Vang Pao's military career, however, was not without controversy. He oversaw
US-funded aid programs for his fighters and their families, including
agricultural training. Accusations were raised during and after the war about
opium trafficking by Vang Pao and his officers, allegedly to pay for his army
and enrich themselves. The accusations extended in some cases of US
involvement, including the use of the CIA's Air America aircraft to transport
opium.
These widely reported allegations have been disputed by some Hmong and their
supporters, including former CIA paramilitary officers who worked alongside of
them. However, a plan by Madison, Wisconsin to name a public park after Vang
Pao was dropped in 2002 when allegations were raised over his ordering the
executions of enemy prisoners of war, followers and political rivals.
Vang Pao's forces were ultimately unable to defeat the Pathet Lao communists
who eventually took over the country in 1975. Vang Pao, his family and senior
Hmong leaders were evacuated by the Americans, but at least 50,000 Hmong
fighters and their families were left behind.
The Hmong exile community and human rights groups say what followed was a
series of revenge attacks against Hmong who supported Vang Pao during the war.
Tens of thousands of Hmong fled the country for Thailand. The US did not
officially acknowledge the secret war until 1997, when a monument was erected
in Arlington National Cemetery to honor the Hmong and other veterans of the
struggle.
Vang Pao was initially resettled in Montana, but eventually moved to Orange
County, California. He is credited with helping to broker the resettlement of
tens of thousands of Hmong from refugee camps in Thailand to the US. In the US,
he formed several nonprofit agencies, including the Lao Family Community, to
provide social services, teach English and other basic life skills to ease
Hmongs' transition to life in the US. He also set up a council to mediate in
disputes between 18 different Hmong clans and personally mediated problems in
Hmong communities across the US. Over 200,000 Hmong now live in the US.
Dwindled resistance
From exile, Vang Pao also organized the United Lao National Liberation Front
(ULNF), or Neo Hom, in an attempt to attract attention to human rights
violations against Hmong in Laos and garner support for a continued Hmong
resistance. That resistance has since dwindled to between several hundred to a
thousand bedraggled fighters and their families in the northeastern and central
mountain regions in Laos. They have kept fighting partly for survival, but also
at the behest of Hmong groups in the US who encourage them while living
comfortably in exile.
Some of these groups are associated with Vang Pao while others are not. Critics
within the Hmong community note with irony that these "jungle Hmong" are
provided satellite phones to report their situation to supporters in the US,
but are themselves severely malnourished and dressed in rags while fighting a
Cold War-era struggle they cannot hope to win.
In 2001, Vang Pao seemed to moderate his position when he publicly advocated
for the first time normalization of US-Lao official relations. Observers
believed the gesture aimed to alleviate sustained human rights abuses against
his former supporters. In 2003, he surprised his supporters again by saying it
was time to find ways to negotiate peacefully with the communist Lao
government.
Vang Pao's image was tarnished on several occasions by accusations that he and
other Hmong leaders had profited personally through fundraising activities
within the Hmong community. Based largely on the empty promise of one day
returning to Laos, Hmong community members are often requested to contribute
funds for the small jungle resistance. It's unclear how much of these funds, if
any, went to Vang Pao, but certainly some of his close associates benefited.
Despite these controversies, Vang Pao remained throughout his life a respected
leader in the Hmong community. His influence, however, had waned substantially
in recent years. Appeals to nostalgia for the Lao motherland held less appeal
with a generation of Hmong born and raised in the US; today they make up the
majority of the US-based Hmong community.
Among the factionalized Hmong exile community, Vang Pao's group worked hard to
establish itself as the voice of the Hmong people. However, this voice lost
resonance as the Vietnam War generation faded and the soldiers, spies,
diplomats and journalists who knew Vang Pao and worked with him during the war
retired or passed away.
Indeed, Vang Pao and the Hmong have in recent years been viewed in Washington
seen as an embarrassing impediment to improving US-Lao relations. Its clear
from recent policy shifts that the US would prefer to bury the past and forge
better relations with Vientiane to counterbalance China's growing influence in
the region, including in Laos.
That became publicly apparent with the June 2007 federal indictment of Vang
Pao, nine Hmong and a former American army officer for their alleged roles in a
plot to overthrow the government of Laos in violation of the US's Federal
Neutrality Act. A sting operation purportedly discovered that Vang Pao and
associates were attempting to purchase weapons, including Stinger anti-aircraft
missiles, to smuggle through Thailand to Hmong insurgents in Laos.
Vang Pao's arrest sparked protests in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Michigan and North Carolina. Supporters and friends who worked with him in Laos
emphasized his past service to the US. Others noted the spurious nature of the
accusations and claimed that the sting operation represented an illegal
entrapment.
The charges were leveled despite the US government's willingness for decades to
look the other way concerning Hmong fund raising for Laos-based insurgents. The
charges against Vang Pao were dropped in September 2009 after significant
pressure by Hmong and influential American supporters. However, two other Hmong
were arrested at the same time and all 12 of the others face life imprisonment
if convicted.
With his open identification with the CIA's secret war and Thailand's intense
participation in that effort, Vang Pao remained a problematic figure for both
sides. Bangkok quietly supported Hmong resistance groups in the late 1970s and
early 1980s, but later withdrew support and banned Vang Pao from visiting
Thailand due to his continued influence over refugee populations and the potent
symbolism he provided to Hmong insurgents.
Thailand and Laos would now rather concentrate on bilateral trade and
investment. In December 2009, Thailand forcibly repatriated thousands of Hmong
refugees from the Ban Huay Nam Khao refugee camp. Established in 2005 for Hmong
claiming to flee from government persecution as former Vang Pao and CIA
fighters, the camp was seen as a historical embarrassment to both counties and
an impediment to forging closer ties.
In late December 2009, Vang Pao announced he was ready to return to Laos to
negotiate directly with the Lao government. The government's response was that
he had been condemned to death and if he returned the sentence would be carried
out. Vang Pao announced soon after that he would not make the trip. Detractors
say his announcement was a publicity stunt aimed at galvanizing his personality
cult and that he never intended to re-enter Laos.
Upon the announcement of his death, the Lao government told Agence
France-Presse that "He was an ordinary person, so we do not have any reaction."
Vientiane has long aimed to solve its Hmong-related problems internally and
claims to have made substantial progress. Officials frequently point out that
the majority of Hmong live peacefully in Laos and that a large number of Hmong
fought on the communist side during the war. They also note the numerous Hmong
in government positions, including Pany Yathotou, a politburo member and
vice-president of the National Assembly, as proof of successful integration.
Vang Pao's passing may be a time for mourning for the Hmong community in the
US, but in Washington, Bangkok and Vientiane there will likely be quiet sighs
of relief. Vang Pao epitomized and sustained the hostilities of the Cold War
that many in the region are keen to bury in order to move ahead with
trade-promoting economic integration. But Vang Pao's memory will live on in
Hmong communities in the US and among the small pocket of fighters still
perpetuating his struggle in mountainous hinterlands in Laos.
Brian McCartan is a Bangkok-based freelance journalist. He may be reached
at brianpm@comcast.net.
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